The Wait is Killing Me

The NCAA has got to do something about this wait between basketball ending in April, and football not starting until August.

We basically have to go 4 1/2 months with no UK sports fix. We won’t hire Cal every year, and have a #1 recruiting class to talk about. We may eventually drop as low as 2 or 3.

We won’t always have something to hate the NCAA for. Well we can always find something. Like an illegal dietary supplement sold over the counter. Ironic that he was taking this to lose weight, and the Redskins want him to put on about 20 lbs.

We won’t always have a BCG lawsuit to keep us distracted.

My friends, I am disgusted by the summer sports blackout, and I need for something to happen very soon.

Posted on the forums by ukn96 you can read the whole thing here.

For the betterment of the sport.

For the betterment of the sport the NCAA needs to look at increasing the scholarship limit to 15. Not to make sure we have a better team next year but for the simple reason that if there are 15 on a team like Kansas, NC, Duke or Kentucky its entirely possible that the number 14 or 15 player might decide to play for a team like Butler, Gonzaga or Nevada rather than sitting behind a stream of one and I’m out of hears.

I’m looking at this from a guys point of view sorry lady’s. But come on if a guy could increase his stable to 15 from 13 does anyone think Britney Spears is gonna stay around as number 15 when she could contribute to another team.

Increasing the stable err scholarship limit to 15 will defiantly help the sport to grow stronger besides I’d really like to see a major underdog win the NC before I go on to the big court in the sky.

As The Basketball Spins

The more I read this week about the player situation the more can’t wait for the week to get over. John Clay in todays LHL says players are in limbo. Players say they want to be here next year but it seems like many are expecting some of the players leave. These same players are representing the state and the fans. They are expected to work hard on the court, be perfect off the court, win all their games and go far in the NCAA. In simple words they are expected to be loyal to the university and the fans. Will the university and the fans be loyal to them in return is the question now.

Coach Calipari is being straight with them in telling them that if they don’t fit the system they wont get any playing time and it would be better if they go some where they will fit in. I can applaud that and am sure the players can respect that. The question is can Coach Calipari, the university and the fans respect it if they tell the coach they want to be here next year and be a Wildcat.

With the possibility of signing several players with better basketball talent we will just have to tune in to the next As the Basketball Spins for the answer.

Donovan Says “NO”! ORESTES MEEKS SPEAKS!

“Billy Gillispie’s tenure as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats ended yesterday after a two year record of 40-27, one NCAA appearance and one NIT appearance. At this moment, UK is without a basketball coach. Apparently, that will not be Billy Donovan.

“In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible. I’m committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here.” So says Billy Donovan about his interest in the vacant University of Kentucky job.

So says Billy Donovan, who was the second part of the persistent rumor that swirled around Billy Gillispie — that he would be fired and Billy Donovan would be the replacement. Now, we see that the administration had no coach in the wings, and the firing was what it is. A desire to remove Gillispie based on “philosophical differentness and “UN-FIT” circumstances.

Now I have no doubt, after careful consideration, that Billy C. Gillispie did nothing to ingratiate himself to the boosters, media, or the HEAD MAN. He was a hard driving basketball junkie who loved the game and hated the spotlight. This is plenty enough to get you fired in the real world, yet this isn’t the real world. This is no marriage, there was no contract. This was no agreement; there was none, perhaps an understanding, but those are very flimsy, as we can see now.

This is a basketball team with young men hanging in the balance of their careers, and a program tethering on the brink of instability. A strong recruiting class coming, whose parents want to know what is going on. Those things are paramount in considering anything in relation to the men’s basketball program. Having a man in place who appreciates what the University of Kentucky basketball program is all about is a no-brainer. Mitch should have thought of that two years ago when he introduced us to Billy Clyde as the saviour of UK basketball.

Now, we are left to twist in the wind while we look for a basketball coach. Experienced coaches are turning us down now, first Donovan, now Calipari. Never say never, and some may reconsider but, A “home run” hire is necessary soon to address the need to retain the recruits we have coming in. The search is on……

Mike Decourcy, The Sporting News, weighs in, “The guy’s been there two years. If you’re firing somebody after two years, with one NCAA appearance and an NIT, I’m not sure the failure belongs to the coach.”

“You need a special guy…I think that John Calapari…Rick Barnes….Travis Ford…” Vitale offered these names, and we know these. We will be needing NO help from Dicky V. I’ll take Travis. Thank You.

Orestes Meeks, Jodie’s father, had some very unflattering things to say about Billy Gillispie. “They got worse as the season progressed. I don’t know why that was. To me, that is a leadership issue. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that went on. Some of that stuff was self inflicted (by Gillispie). I couldn’t understand a lot of the stuff they tried to do.” After UK’s loss at Florida, a Florida player said Jodie Meeks told him he was told by Gillispie to quit shooting. Gillispie denied that later as did Jodie Meeks. However, Orestes Meeks said it happened in other games this year as well. “He was telling him that all year about shooting,” Orestes Meeks said. “When he hit 7 3’s against Tennessee State in the first half and he was 8-for-11 from the field and he told him, ‘Why do you have 11 shots. You are shooting too much.’ “I think Coach had a problem with Jodie doing as well as he did. We do not have a relationship. I do not talk to him. When the school started the (national player of the year) promotion for Jodie (in February), he benched him (at South Carolina). He took him out and told him not to shoot even though he just had made a shot. He just told him to sit down. How does that make sense?” Indeed Orestes, it makes no sense, and if this is true, we did make the best move…

NIT TOURNAMENT UK vs UNLV

As expected the University of Kentucky Wildcats did not receive a bid to the NCAA tournament from the selection committee on Sunday…They will instead accept the bid to the NIT, where they well be matched up in the first round against the Runnin Rebels of UNLV with coach Lon Kruger.

UK will host UNLV at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday night in Memorial Coliseum. UK will be a four seed in a region that also has the top-seeded Creighton. Now that UK is playing in the JV tournament, I suggest that they make the most of it. There may be some fans that get to see them that would otherwise not have that opportunity.

Patrick Patterson had his own opinion of the NIT: “If we could win the NIT that could carry over to next year, that would be a huge confidence boost and weight lifted off our shoulders. We’ve had a not so good season and everyone is frustrated but making a run in the NIT would help”

Ramon Harris sees it as “a chance to play more basketball”, and indeed it is. UK will be playing its first game in Memorial Coliseum since the end of the 1975-76 season when the Wildcats moved to Rupp Arena.

“We are happy to still be playing,” Gillispie said. “There are 330 some teams and they all want to play in the NCAA and that’s not possible for every team every year. We will try to represent ourselves the best way we can.”

So his players seem eager to play?

“I am not a mind reader. We had a really good practice last night. I would expect we will play well and we will have to play well to advance against a very good team,” Gillispie said.

UNLV won AT Louisville 3 days before UofL beat UK on a Edgar Sosa buzzer beater. They are similar to many SEC teams in that they like to spread you out and shoot the 3. Billy Gillispie expects a difficult matchup for that reason, “It will be a difficult matchup for us because they spread you out and shoot a lot of 3′s. They really utilize the drive. They are hard to guard because of their athleticism and ability to shoot 3′s.”

UK Turns the game OVER to Florida 60-53

UK came out like a team unaware that their NCAA tournament life was on the line committing 10 turnovers in the first half to trail it by 7 points. Indeed, the margin would have been much larger if not for the fact that Patrick Patterson had 14 of UK’s 21 points. Florida in similar circumstances tournament wise, shot only 41% the first half themselves, but employed a zone which causes UK numerous problems trying to generate offense.

Now UK must play and win the SEC tournament to get the NCAA automatic bid. A tall order, considering what we have seen from the team the last several games. UK finished the season on a 4 game losing streak to go along with dropping 8 of their last 11 games. For BCG, it is a time for him to do some quick change tactics to try to get an offense that works before SEC tournament time. Anything, but the product you placed upon the floor today will do!

Bottom Dwellers Ga “DOGS” UK 90-85

The Georgia Bulldogs came into Lexington, losers of nine road games this season and playing for pride only, beat the Kentucky Wildcats. The University of Kentucky Wildcats, needing a win to avoid their NCAA bubble bursting, may have seen that slip away. The Cats, losers of 6 of their last 9 coming in, plodded along with bottom league dweller Georgia in the first half, as the Georgia shooters put on a 3 point display reminisicent of some other squads that came into Rupp this year…It must be the defense! Georgia shot 52% the first half on 7 of 9 three pointers in gaining their 1st road win of the year.

Uk rode the hot shooting of Michael Porter who was 4-4 on threes the first half to finish the half with a 2 point lead after being down by as much as 7 with 1:10 to go in the half. On the strength of a 4 point play, precipatied by an intentional foul on Georgia, and possesion which led to a Patrick Patterson slam and the resulting first half lead. Terrance Woodbury had 21 points for Georgia in the first half.

The second half saw Georgia take a quick 61-53 lead as Billy Gillispie pulled all his starters but one, and UK had 3 consecutive turnovers…UK fell behind and trailed Georgia by as much as 10 points in the second half…Now UK, not knowing where they stand, must pick themselves up and go to Gainesville Fl. Florida suffered a similar loss tonight against Mississippi State, which all but eliminates them from the NCAA tournament also..

UK 57 M St 66

Sometimes, the outcome just doesn’t add up. UK usually wins when it keeps other teams off the offensive boards and doesn’t turn the ball over. UK held the Dawgs to 8 offensive boards and “only” turned it over 15 times, which is a major accomplishment for these cats. You can’t look at Porter or Harris or Liggins or Miller or any Cat and say they played a bad game. I made a bold statement earlier this year and this game took a bite right out of that statement’s behind. I said that UK would win any contest where it held a team to the mid 60s. While the Dawgs got slightly more than that, they could have easily scored less and won. Scoring, in my mind, has not really been the issue. If UK scores in the 70s, with the D they are supposed to play, they should win. The problems now seem to be at both ends.

This is three games in a row that UK should have won. This is three games in a row UK needed to win. Because things get much tougher now. How do they turn this around? I have no clue. The general feeling among many of the fans was that UK would explode when Miller and Liggins were ready for more minutes. They are ready now, and UK has exploded, just in the wrong way. I am not saying this particular loss is on them. Maybe it is just a coincidence all the way around that UK has struggled since coach decided to give them more minutes. Maybe the players need to adjust to the new rotation.

One thing I do know is this team needs to play even smarter if it wants to compete from here out. It isn’t hard to figure out that you need to guard guys at 35 feet out if they are making 35 footers. It isn’t hard to figure out that smaller guards are not going to be able to challenge the best shot blocker in all of the NCAA at the rim. UK has a small margin of error in every game they play. They simply are not talented enough to make easily fixable mistakes over and over and expect to win.

Every Cat fan is frustrated these days. I am most frustrated at the defense. Even when things didn’t go well in the past, I could always count on great defense. I can not here of late. This is three games in a row where teams have shot the lights out from long distance. This is where coach earns his money. Now go to work and get this thing fixed..

UK 70 Vandy 60

Did anyone wonder what would happen if UK hosted Vandy, Ogilvy had to sit out with a bum heal, and 2 Pat would pretty much take the day off? I didn’t. But if you did you now know the outcome. And to UK’s credit, it had enough to step up, make adjustments, and get the win. To be honest, UK still had plenty to bust the game open. It just didn’t have enough to sustain it. Or maybe, this is part of the learning process for these Cats. Lets face it, these guys aren’t used to having big leads on good teams.

To be honest, Meeks didn’t have a real good day but the hustle on offense was there. The D end? I thought he really stunk it up. Vandy did a lot of moving picks. UK (ie: Meeks) did a horrible job of staying close to his man as they moved and the picks came so late that it didn’t even matter. And when I say close, I mean he usually trailed his guy by four or five steps. Totally unacceptable..

But on to the good news. No, on to the absolute greatest of news, and it can be summed up in one word. Liggins. He was the difference maker. Not in the whole game, mind you, but in the second half. It reminded me of the year UK woke up at the half during Vandy and played an unrelenting finish up to NCAA tournament time. The spearhead then was Hawkins and the spear head this time was Liggins. In this game, we got to see what a difference Liggins can make when he plays stunning D, within the team concept, and looks to make others better. In the process of making others looked better, HE looked like an All Freshman candidate. The kicker? He did it scoring all of one point. The 20 point lead came as a direct result of his second half play. I also thought Miller looked much better and his rebounds were key. With both Patterson and Stevenson no where to be found on the boards, the others, including Miller did just enough to almost even out the rebounding battle. But if Liggins can give 20 quality minutes, UK would take one of the questions going in to the year and place a huge SOLVED stamp on it. I can certainly see Porter starting, Liggins in middle relief, and Porter closing as a huge weapon going forward if Liggins did, in fact, figure it out in the second half of Vandy.

I was worried about Vandy. UK hangs its hat on playing smart and so does Vandy. Sometimes these type games come down to who plays the smartest. So even when I heard Ogilvy would be out I was worried. And the way UK left guys open for 3s early was exactly what I was worried about. But UK adjusted and I thought the D, minus Meeks, was very good after the adjustments.

Now its on to the ugliest team in the league (country?). Their colors are ugly, their players are ugly, their house is an ugly Rupp knock off, their coach is butt ugly and their cheerleaders are ugly. Most importantly, their play is ugly. It’s sad when the best looking thing about your program is your hound dog mascot. It’s really really sad. Anyway, it’s time for Patterson to clock back in and go to work simply because UK is simply much prettier.

Croom resigns at Miss St

From ESPN

JACKSON, Miss. — Sylvester Croom resigned from Mississippi State on Saturday, five years after becoming the Southeastern Conference’s first black head football coach.

Croom announced the decision after meeting with athletic director Greg Byrne. It came less than 24 hours after an embarrassing 45-0 loss to No. 25 Mississippi in the most lopsided Egg Bowl in 37 years.
Croom and Doom

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom resigned Saturday, a day after his team lost 45-0 at Ole Miss, the Rebels’ second-biggest win ever in the rivalry. Croom was 21-38 in five seasons and lost eight-plus games in four of his five years. The major problem was offense. It simply never got better under Croom.

Mississippi State Offense
Under Croom, FBS Ranks Total Scoring
2008 105th 113th
2007 113th 96th
2006 103th 97th
2005 113th 113th
2004 107th T-114th

Croom, who took over the team while it was under NCAA sanctions, won 2007 SEC coach of the year honors after leading the Bulldogs to an 8-5 finish and the Liberty Bowl. He signed a contract extension in the offseason that paid him $1.7 million this year.

But he came under immediate pressure from fans after a season-opening loss to Louisiana Tech of the Western Athletic Conference, and the heat only intensified as the offensively inept Bulldogs stumbled to a 4-8 finish.

The coach was 21-38 overall. He did not immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press.

“Five years ago, Mississippi State gave me the unprecedented opportunity to be a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference and to build a program based upon a strong foundation,” Croom said in a statement.

“We have tried to build a program the right way that can compete for conference championships. I believe the foundation has been set for those goals to be reached under the leadership of someone else, and it was my decision to resign.”

Byrne was scheduled to meet with reporters later Saturday afternoon.

Calls for Croom to make changes to his coaching staff and run-first offensive philosophy dogged the Bulldogs. The team continued to have trouble at quarterback and Croom switched starters midway through the season.

A source familiar with Croom’s situation at Mississippi State told ESPN.com’s Pat Forde that the breaking point was not a refusal on Croom’s part to make staff changes; an important issue was the continuing ineptitude of the Bulldogs’ offense under Croom. In five years, Mississippi State has never ranked in the NCAA top 100 in total offense.

The Bulldogs were 11th in the SEC in scoring offense (16.6 points per game) and 10th in total offense (297.7 yards per game) through 11 games and lost badly at Georgia Tech (38-7) and Tennessee (34-3). Yet some optimism remained that Mississippi State could salvage a bit of pride and its promising recruiting class after a 31-28 win over Arkansas last week and with a good game against the revitalized Rebels.

Croom even got a vote of confidence from incoming Mississippi State president Mark Keenum.

But Mississippi State was outmatched from the start and looked poorly prepared against Ole Miss. The quarterbacks were hit hard on nine of their first 10 pass attempts as the Rebels put together a school-record 11 sacks and set another mark by holding the Bulldogs to minus-51 yards rushing.

Croom seemed stunned after the game.

“They came in here with the idea they were going to beat us bad, and they did from start to finish,” Croom said. “I don’t know why what happened today occurred. I’m sorry to say that it’s an absolute mystery to me.”

Byrne, a new hire who’s been on the job less than a year, wouldn’t comment on the speculation surrounding the football team during the season but said Saturday that a possible resignation was discussed in the morning meeting.

“We discussed the football program and many topics were addressed, including resignation,” Byrne said in a statement. “I want to thank Coach Croom for the leadership he has provided our football program over the last five years.”

While Croom wasn’t able to squeeze many wins out of his tenure, there’s little question he improved a Mississippi State program that was at its lowest ebb. The Bulldogs were hit with major sanctions following rules violations under previous coach Jackie Sherrill and had won just three games a season between 2001-03.

Hired Dec. 1, 2003, the Bear Bryant disciple who had been an all-American center at Alabama and an NFL assistant for 17 seasons inherited a team low on talent. Heavy sanctions and the SEC’s lowest budget made the challenge even steeper.

“We couldn’t even get recruits to visit campus,” Croom said this week while talking about his early recruiting efforts.

But Croom upgraded the talent enough that the Bulldogs were competitive in the nation’s toughest conference and they earned their first winning season since 2000 last year, capping it with a 10-3 win over Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

He also was having success off the field, drawing commitments from several top recruits, including a quarterback.

A spokesman said players would not be available Saturday, but some defended Croom following Friday’s loss.

“I think it is unfair,” wide receiver Delmon Robinson said of the criticism. “When it’s man-to-man coverage, it’s the receiver against the [defensive back]. If the receiver doesn’t win, it’s not the coach’s fault that he didn’t win. It’s all about the players. We’ve got to win and we’ve got to go out there and execute coach’s plays.”

It was the second straight season an embarrassing loss in the Egg Bowl led to a coaching change. Coach Ed Orgeron was fired a day after the Rebels collapsed in a 17-14 loss. Ole Miss led 14-0 going into the fourth quarter, but Orgeron went for it on fourth down at midfield. The Bulldogs stopped the play, went on to score and finished with 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

Byrne said Croom’s assistants remain under contract and will work until a new coach is hired. He told Forde that Mississippi State’s search for a successor begins immediately and will be national in scope. He declined to discuss any specific potential candidates but said he wanted a “passionate leader who is capable of helping us win in the SEC. We have a lot of talent here in this state, and a very supportive fan base. We can win here.”

Among the coaches Mississippi State might target to replace Croom are Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz and TCU coach Gary Patterson.

“Looking forward I plan to work closely with athletic director Greg Byrne to move quickly, but with due deliberation, to find a new head football coach with high energy and a commitment to compete for championships and bowl opportunities in the best conference in America,” Keenum said.

There likely will be several candidates for a coveted SEC job, but Mississippi State’s new coach shouldn’t get comfortable. There have been coaching changes at five of six SEC West schools in the past five years, with only Tommy Tuberville at Auburn lasting through that time. And even he’s facing criticism in a losing season.

The Rebels’ new coach, Houston Nutt, had been at Arkansas for 10 years before resigning after last season and moving to Ole Miss. But he believes tenures like that could be a thing of the past because fans and boosters have little patience for losing.

“It’s sad, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Nutt said. “It’s the way of the world in college football right now.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3733168

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